Windows 8 refuses to install (stuck at blue logo)

[gewe]

Hello,

I am trying to install Windows 8 Professional in a vm. I have tried the 64 bit and 32 bit version, but both only show a blue window-like logo on a black screen. And then nothing happens, except the VirtualBox process consuming 100% cpu.
I have tried several different configurations of the vm (IDE vs. SATA, with or without EFI). With EFI I get a EFI console, without EFI just the Windows logo.
One time I left the machine running for almost half an hour, but nothing happened. CPU usage was 100% continuosly.
I have several vm's running successfully, both 32 and 64 bit, Linux and Windows.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong here?

The vm definition refuses to be attached as a file, so here it is:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
-->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings" version="1.12-linux">
  <Machine uuid="{bdab4d9c-f4f2-4ef9-b164-85f58865d750}" name="test2013" OSType="Windows8_64" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2013-02-13T18:06:27Z">
    <MediaRegistry>
      <HardDisks>
        <HardDisk uuid="{ab8f43c6-bfd2-4764-8a24-e2ff8de133ec}" location="test2013.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal"/>
      </HardDisks>
      <DVDImages>
        <Image uuid="{7325affe-c461-47ff-8420-8877ba86e525}" location="/home/george/software/Microsoft/Partner Program/SW_DVD5_NTRL_Win8_64BIT_Dutch_Win_Pro_X18-15897.iso"/>
        <Image uuid="{651a8239-bcc6-4bbd-a928-844feda3b2d2}" location="/home/george/software/Microsoft/Partner Program/SW_DVD5_NTRL_Win8_32BIT_Dutch_Win_Pro_X18-15896.iso"/>
      </DVDImages>
      <FloppyImages/>
    </MediaRegistry>
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastCloseAction" value="powerOff"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint" value="1024,768"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition" value="886,354,1024,811"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <Hardware version="2">
      <CPU count="1" hotplug="false">
        <HardwareVirtEx enabled="true" exclusive="true"/>
        <HardwareVirtExNestedPaging enabled="true"/>
        <HardwareVirtExVPID enabled="true"/>
        <PAE enabled="true"/>
        <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="false"/>
        <HardwareVirtForce enabled="false"/>
      </CPU>
      <Memory RAMSize="2048" PageFusion="false"/>
      <HID Pointing="USBTablet" Keyboard="PS2Keyboard"/>
      <HPET enabled="false"/>
      <Chipset type="PIIX3"/>
      <Boot>
        <Order position="1" device="DVD"/>
        <Order position="2" device="HardDisk"/>
        <Order position="3" device="None"/>
        <Order position="4" device="None"/>
      </Boot>
      <Display VRAMSize="128" monitorCount="1" accelerate3D="true" accelerate2DVideo="true"/>
      <VideoRecording enabled="false" file="Test.webm" horzRes="640" vertRes="480"/>
      <RemoteDisplay enabled="false" authType="Null" authTimeout="5000">
        <VRDEProperties>
          <Property name="TCP/Ports" value="3389"/>
        </VRDEProperties>
      </RemoteDisplay>
      <BIOS>
        <ACPI enabled="true"/>
        <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
        <Logo fadeIn="true" fadeOut="true" displayTime="0"/>
        <BootMenu mode="MessageAndMenu"/>
        <TimeOffset value="0"/>
        <PXEDebug enabled="false"/>
      </BIOS>
      <USBController enabled="true" enabledEhci="true"/>
      <Network>
        <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="0800272C362D" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes/>
          <NAT>
            <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
            <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
          </NAT>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="1" enabled="false" MACAddress="080027CBF01E" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="2" enabled="false" MACAddress="080027035793" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="3" enabled="false" MACAddress="080027D2B090" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="4" enabled="false" MACAddress="0800272C4B52" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="5" enabled="false" MACAddress="0800271979FA" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="6" enabled="false" MACAddress="0800275FDDD4" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="7" enabled="false" MACAddress="0800275568DB" cable="true" speed="0" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <NAT>
              <DNS pass-domain="true" use-proxy="false" use-host-resolver="false"/>
              <Alias logging="false" proxy-only="false" use-same-ports="false"/>
            </NAT>
          </DisabledModes>
        </Adapter>
      </Network>
      <UART>
        <Port slot="0" enabled="false" IOBase="0x3f8" IRQ="4" hostMode="Disconnected"/>
        <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x2f8" IRQ="3" hostMode="Disconnected"/>
      </UART>
      <LPT>
        <Port slot="0" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="7"/>
        <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="7"/>
      </LPT>
      <AudioAdapter controller="HDA" driver="Pulse" enabled="true"/>
      <RTC localOrUTC="local"/>
      <SharedFolders/>
      <Clipboard mode="Disabled"/>
      <DragAndDrop mode="Disabled"/>
      <IO>
        <IoCache enabled="true" size="5"/>
        <BandwidthGroups/>
      </IO>
      <HostPci>
        <Devices/>
      </HostPci>
      <EmulatedUSB>
        <CardReader enabled="false"/>
      </EmulatedUSB>
      <Guest memoryBalloonSize="0"/>
      <GuestProperties>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="nl_NL" timestamp="1360505366957697000" flags=""/>
      </GuestProperties>
    </Hardware>
    <StorageControllers>
      <StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
        <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" port="1" device="0">
          <Image uuid="{651a8239-bcc6-4bbd-a928-844feda3b2d2}"/>
        </AttachedDevice>
      </StorageController>
      <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
        <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" port="0" device="0">
          <Image uuid="{ab8f43c6-bfd2-4764-8a24-e2ff8de133ec}"/>
        </AttachedDevice>
      </StorageController>
    </StorageControllers>
  </Machine>
</VirtualBox>

[mpack]

00:00:01.767658 Host RAM: 3954MB total, 111MB available

That is somewhat less than the recommended available RAM for Windows 8...

[gewe]

That's the host RAM, the VM has 2048 MB.
I just started the VM again, and the log shows:

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00:00:01.150050 Host RAM: 3954MB total, 2487MB available

And also:

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00:00:01.517885   RamSize         <integer> = 0x0000000080000000 (2 147 483 648, 2 048 MB)

[mpack]

Ahem, yes, I do know what the numbers mean. A VM cannot use more RAM than is available on the host, and in fact should not use too much of what is available, as you leave none for the host. Typical rule of thumb is that a VM should use no more than half of the available host RAM (note, this is less than half of the installed RAM). So even in the latter case your VM really ought not be configured to request more than 1GB RAM.

[gewe]

Ahem, yes, I do know what the numbers mean. ...

Sorry about that misunderstanding, your sentence

That is somewhat less than the recommended available RAM for Windows 8...

poot me on the wrong foot, since I am trying to run a Windows 8 guest on a Linux host.

I lowered the VM's RAM to 1024 MB, but no change. While I am typing this post it is stuck at the blue window logo, with CPU usage at 100%.

[mpack]

You also need to enable both VT-x and PAE/NX in order to run any Win8 guest.

[gewe]

They are enabled.

[mpack]

Not according to the only log you've provided so far, though it does look like the host does have VT-x available. Still, I would enable it in the guest explicitly.

[gewe]

In the vm config I provided, it says:

Code: Select all

<HardwareVirtEx enabled="true" exclusive="true"/>
<HardwareVirtExNestedPaging enabled="true"/>
<HardwareVirtExVPID enabled="true"/>
<PAE enabled="true"/>

In the log it says:

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00:00:02.154105   EnablePAE       <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:02.157155 CPUMSetGuestCpuIdFeature: Enabled PAE
00:01:02.432058 Guest paging mode:  PAE+NX (changed 14098 times), A20 enabled (changed 2 times)
00:01:02.432065 Shadow paging mode: PAE

Am I interpreting the log in a wrong way?

(Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate your help!)

[mpack]

Well, in that case I must pass. If memory isn't your problem then I don't see what is. I don't use Win8 myself. One warning: the VirtualBox EFI support was designed for Mac OS X server guests on Mac hardware. I don't recall it being used successfully in any other scenario.

[Theodis]

Remove the hard disk virtual hard disk. If it gets to the install screen then your problem is with Host I/O and/or your virtual hard disk controller. Start fresh. Stop your other VMs and recreate the hard disk for Windows 8.

[TobalJackson]

Well, in that case I must pass. If memory isn't your problem then I don't see what is. I don't use Win8 myself. One warning: the VirtualBox EFI support was designed for Mac OS X server guests on Mac hardware. I don't recall it being used successfully in any other scenario.

Is there any way to confirm this? I'm trying to use virtualbox to experiment with windows 8's uefi interoperability and am having the installer hang at the windows 8 logo. I had to change the CD/DVD controller from PIIX4 to PIIX3, to get the installer to get past the windows 8 logo, but upon enabling UEFI and trying to boot the installer again, it hangs at the windows 8 logo. So it would seem that the UEFI capability of VirtualBox is upsetting the windows 8 installer, but is this expected behavior?

Thank you,
C

[Ramshankar]

We are well aware of Windows 8 booting issues (especially on AMD hosts). There are 2 problems involved (one related to time keeping and another involving stale TLB entries) and we're working towards resolving it. We cannot provide any realistic ETA, in this case it's more of "it'll release when it's fixed" approach.